Incommunicado

It’s that quiet time of the rally when Kirsten is riding in sketchy cell service areas.  During times like these, she pushes the “OK” button on the SPOT whenever she gets a bonus, or stops for more than a few minutes (i.e. a rest).  When she starts rolling again, SPOT sends me a text with a “movement alert.”  Such is rally spouse life during a rally.   (If you’re not sure what a SPOT is, check out the article on the SpotTracker from the Iron Butt Magazine.)

This year, the Butt Lite Rally Masters threw in a surprise – they handed out the entire field of bonus locations, points, and combo bonuses for BOTH Legs 1 and 2 in Denver.  Riders, having all the information up front, had the opportunity (curse?) to look ahead to the whole 6 days of the rally and think over the entire strategy.  That led to some late-night planning and bleary eyes at the send off yesterday.  It will also make the standings at the end of Leg 1 kind of ephemeral because riders may be in the middle of collecting multi-location combos, so the points won’t be evident until the end.  If they miss something, well, it’s like a Whose Line is it Anyway? moment, “ride around all you like, and the points won’t matter!”

And what about these bonus locations?  To collect a rally bonus, you ride for hundreds (thousands) of miles to locate and photograph your bike (maybe), your rally flag (always) and some fabulous location in this country or the next such as – 

A note from the Butt Lite Archives for Leg One of the 2012 Rally simply stated, “Peter Behm, Josh Mountain, Tim Pawlowski, and Russell Southern all rode from Georgia to the northeast corner of the U.S. in Eastport, Maine, to pick up a jar of mustard, before heading for New Ulm.”  The Butt Lite blog today notes that the Conestoga Wagon that riders were supposed to photograph in WY has disappeared.  They got calls about it all day.  These things happen. 

As for me, I’ve been randomly using the magic of Google maps to drop the little Google guy next to the green motorcycle (Kirsten’s SPOT icon) to see a little of what she’s seeing.  And I must admit, it’s some pretty amazing country.  I get the feeling that there’s a little bit of the “I want to try everything!” spirit going on out there right now.  As it should be.  Celebrating the freedom of movement here on the 4th of July to go on and see something new ...before they roll into the checkpoint to go on and start again!

A SPOT screen shot on Day 2 showing Butt Lite VIII riders trying everything!